Take My Hand
by Tonight.At.Noon
Summary: "Where is he?" she cries, sweat running down her forehead. She frantically searches the room another time. Cassian is nowhere to be seen. This only heightens the pain. A nurse swipes her hairline with a cool, damp cloth. "He's on his way. Don't worry, Jyn. He wouldn't miss the birth of his own child."


**A/N:** Kinda fluffy/cheesy. Post-Scarif. Enjoy!

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 **Take My Hand**

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Jyn has never felt pain like this in her entire life. She does not think this lightly – her life has been filled with sorrows and heartbreaks that have weighed her down and broken her into pieces. She understands pain. The kind that lives in the soul and the kind that sits on the skin. But this is a new level, even for her.

There are nurses surrounding her, trying to calm her. She cannot hear them. Her body is screaming too loud.

Harsh lights shine in her eyes. Her back is aching, like she has twisted every single one of her muscles into knots. Her stomach clenches and releases of its volition. She hates this most of all, not being able to control her own movements. She feels helpless.

"Where is he?" she cries, sweat running down her forehead. She frantically searches the room another time. Cassian is nowhere to be seen. This only heightens the pain.

A nurse swipes her hairline with a cool, damp cloth. "He's on his way. Don't worry, Jyn. He wouldn't miss the birth of his own child."

The nurse could not possibly know this. Jyn herself understands that Cassian would walk the entirety of the ice planet Hoth just to reach her in her time of need, but what if something has stopped him? What if he _can't_ get to her?

These thoughts swim around her mind, causing her anxiety levels to rise drastically. This, combined with the agony of labour, makes the hospital room spin.

"She's at ten centimetres!" A nurse calls, her head beneath Jyn's hospital gown.

Jyn knows what this means. It means pushing. But she doesn't have the energy. Nine months of carrying this baby, eight months and one week of wishing it would leave her belly, and she can't find it within herself to try to expel it.

"Come on, Jyn, you've gotta push. This baby's ready to come out." Her doctor is there. She is between Jyn's legs, a mask covering the lower half of her face. Thick glasses cover the top half. She looks like an alien. "Come on," she repeats.

Jyn shakes her head vehemently. "No," she croaks as another contraction hits her. It rolls through her, tightening everything inside of Jyn. Her thighs burn. "Not until Cassian gets here. He has to be here!"

"Jyn," her doctor says. She always sounds too calm. It's unnerving. "I wish we could wait for your partner to arrive, but there is nothing we can do."

She won't do it. Not without Cassian. He has been with her every step of the way, holding her hand and assuring her she can get through it. He has been so good to her. Too good to her. She doesn't deserve his kindness, but she craves it daily. Today is no different. Today, she could not bear to be without it.

But the doctor is right. She can't wait any longer. She can feel the pressure building.

"Okay," she says. Her eyes and mouth are filled with tears. "Okay, I can do it."

"Yes, you can," her doctor says.

"Wait!"

Jyn startles. The whole room, chaotic and loud and alive, pauses to look towards the door. Cassian is there. Panting, he enters the room and finds his place by Jyn's side. She is truly crying now.

Cassian takes Jyn's hand in his own. He brings it to his lips. She sees he is crying too.

"I thought you weren't going to make it," she confesses. "I thought I was gonna have to do this by myself."

Crouching down so their eyes are level, Cassian cups the back of Jyn's head with his free hand and kisses her wet forehead. She clenches her eyes. "I would not miss this for anything," he insists. He is looking her directly in the eyes. A contraction is passing through her, but she ignores it in favour of losing herself in the chocolate pools of his eyes. "I'm here. I'm with you. All the way "

"Are we ready to get pushing?" the doctor asks, a hopeful wind in her words.

Jyn cannot speak. She simply nods. The doctor tells her to lean forward and push with all of her might. With Cassian's hand in her own, Jyn does as she is told.

After several pushes, many of which were falsely advertised as the last one, Jyn feels something give way. The pressure inside of her dissipates. She leans back against the hospital bed, knowing it is over.

There are streams of salty tears running down her cheeks. There is blood pooled between her legs. There is a harrowing tiredness to her bones. But there is also a cry. A fresh cry, released through new lungs with a gasp of new air.

A baby. Her baby. _Their baby_.

Cassian is still holding her hand. She fears she has broken it, but he is only smiling at her with the most precious and purest joy. He leans forward and plants kisses around her sweat-dosed face, landing the final one on her chewed lips.

"You did it," he says. "You did it!"

Jyn laughs. It is all she can do.

"Jyn? Cassian? Would you like to meet your little girl?"

Jyn's face brightens. Her jaw drops.

"A girl?" Cassian asks.

The doctor nods. Even she is smiling now, their swaddled child cradled in her arms.

"Yes." Jyn is already reaching out to take the baby from the doctor. "Yes."

The child is laid gently in Jyn's arms. Her sweet, squished face is red from her cries, but she is silent as Jyn holds her.

She is beautiful – the most stunning creature in the galaxy.

Cassian reaches a hand inside of her swaddling clothes and takes out her hand. Five small fingers reach around Cassian's forefinger. Jyn watches the interaction, her heart as full as it has ever been. It is true what they say – you don't know love until you hold your child for the first time.

She only wishes their parents were alive to see this. Their legacy.

"What should we name her?" Cassian's attention is fully on the sleeping newborn.

Jyn does not need to think. Though her and Cassian spent many weeks arguing about names, it is in this moment the right one comes to her mind. She uses her available hand to stroke her baby's face, sobbing out a laugh when the girl's cheek jumps.

"Hope," she says. It is a worn name that K-2 will think is cliché, but Jyn knows it is right.

Cassian finds her gaze. He grins at her. He looks so like a little boy who has found a lost treasure. "Hope."

They are in agreement. They always are.

Feeling she has spent far too long watching Cassian, Jyn returns her attention to their dozing child – to their hope.


End file.
